Sweet gluten-free sugar cookies with strawberry cream filling. Make them extra delicious by dipping in dark chocolate. A perfect low carb Valentine’s treat.
My kids love to help me brainstorm recipe ideas for All Day I Dream About Food. Being young kids with rather vivid imaginations, they suggest some pretty outlandish creations and I simply have to smile and nod and say “that’s a great idea, honey”. Because being young kids with rather vivid imaginations, they are onto the next thing in a matter of moments and I know I will never actually have to make the Raspberry Peppermint Peanut Butter Brownie Pancake Sundaes of their dreams. But every so often, an idea is worthy of consideration. These low carb sandwich cookies with a strawberry cream filling are the result of one such idea.
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My towheaded middle child, my little doppleganger, suggested strawberry cookies quite some time ago. The problem is that I really don’t like cooked strawberries in any form, so I resisted letting this idea come to fruition. But she resembles me in so many ways and one of these shared traits is perseverance. She can be dogged when she really wants something, and she couldn’t let go of the idea of strawberry cookies. And I couldn’t let go of my distaste for the mushy texture and sickly sweet taste of strawberries in baked goods. I had to mull it over for a good long while to come up with a recipe that would satisfy both of us.
I knew I did not want chunks of berries in my cookies, no way, no how. So I began to consider a sugar cookie with some sort of strawberry flavoured icing. And then Valentine’s recipes started to fill the pages of all websites I frequent and my daughter was peeking over my shoulder one day. She pointed out some sort of heart-shaped sandwich cookie and it clicked. Why not a strawberry flavoured cream cheese filling between two heart-shaped sugar-free sugar cookies? And why not dip them in a little chocolate too, because hey, it’s Valentine’s Day? The best of all possible scenarios.
I let the kids assemble some of the cookies, which meant crumbs and frosting everywhere. But they adore helping me in the kitchen so I figured it was worth the extra clean up. The cookies got a huge thumbs up from everyone, including this cooked-strawberry hater. I think the tanginess of the cream cheese helped cut the sickly sweet flavour of the cooked berries. And the dark chocolate coating didn’t hurt either!
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ¼ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp butter softened
- ½ cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 5 oz frozen strawberries
- 2 tbsp water
- 3 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 ounces good quality dark chocolate 70 to 90% cacao
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In a medium bowl whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum and salt.
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In a large bowl, beat butter and sweetener until creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat in almond flour mixture until dough comes together.
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Turn out dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. Pat into a rough circle and then top with another piece of parchment. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Place on a cookie sheet and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.
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Preheat oven to 325F and line another baking sheet with parchment. Using heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies and lift carefully with a small, offset spatula or knife. Place cookies at least 1/2 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Reroll your dough and cut out more cookies (if your dough gets too soft to work with, you can put it in the freezer for a bit to harden up).
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Bake cookies 12 minutes or until they are just starting to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on pan.
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In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring strawberries and water to a simmer. Cook until strawberries are very soft, about 10 minutes.
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Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and pour berry mixture into the sieve. Press on berries to release as much juice as possible. Discard solids
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In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in strawberry liquid until well combined.
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Beat in sweetener 1/2 cup at a time until a frosting-like consistency is achieved.
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Assemble cookies by spreading 2 or 3 teaspoons of frosting on the bottom side of one heart. Top frosting with another cookie.
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Place cookies on a baking sheet and freeze until firm (freezing will allow you to dip in chocolate without having the filling squish out).
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In a metal or ceramic bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (do not let bottom of bowl touch water), melt butter and chocolate together until smooth.
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Remove cookies from freezer and dip half of each into chocolate. Set on a parchment or waxed paper lined cookie sheet and let set (at room temperature).
Makes 24. Each cookie has 5 g of carbs and 2 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 3 g.
129 Calories; 11g Fat (75.4% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 73mg Sodium.
Barb says
Yummy – I love strawberries and cream cheese! Will these keep on the counter or will I need to refrigerate them? Also, will the chocolate/butter mix stay hard like the chocolate was to begin with, or will it get soft and gooey at room temp?
Gonna make these for a Valentine’s birthday party for a friend’s child, and want to be sure they won’t melt and make a big mess. Perfect timing, thanks!
Carolyn says
The cookies should be refrigerated because of the cream cheese filling. The chocolate stays at a good consistency and doesn’t get all melty (if you’re worried, use a little less butter), but overall, I’d refrigerate for as long as possible.
Laurie says
These look great, and I betcha I could use some of my homemade strawberry jam in the filling instead of the frozen strawberries!
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
I’m in love with these cookies. They are fantastic!
Jennifer says
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Sarah Grace says
Wow those are so cute! Such a lovely idea Carolyn!
xo Sarah Grace
Toni | Boulder Locavore says
Out of the mouths of babes! Thank goodness you listened to their ideas for these fantastic cookies Carolyn! They are lovely and with your sensibilities applied to ‘no strawberry chunks, please’ I’m sure are perfect. I too have help from the full Boulder Locavore family in the blogging pursuit. The kids are often the ones in a time of bland inspiration to strike the chord my muse can respond to!
Wenda says
These look delish!!
Beverly says
For a quick and easy way to add strawberry flavor to both the cookie and the frosting, you could buy a small bag of freeze dried strawberries and turn them into powder in a clean coffee grinder. I find these Strawberries at Whole Foods and, I think, Trader Joe’s.
Carolyn says
Not a bad idea!
Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living says
I’m so glad you daughter talked you into making this fun cookie combination!
mellissa @ ibreatheimhungry says
These are super cute!!!! Squeee!
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
great looking girl!!
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Well you both had a great idea, these are so pretty!
Amanda says
These are great and you have such sweet helpers! Tell them to keep up with the great ideas, and we definitely need those Raspberry Peppermint Peanut Butter Brownie Pancake Sundaes 😉
Brittney says
I must have done something wrong. See, I weigh everything out when I bake and the conversion for Cups for almond flour and coconut flour came out to: 192 grams for almond flour; 224 grams coconut flour. The mixture will not stick because this seems like way too much.
Please help?
Carolyn says
I don’t quite know what to say. I think you’re better off measuring out a cup and then weighing it if you need to. To get it to stick, I’d add another egg white maybe?
Carolyn says
Whoa, wait a second. 224 g of coconut flour? For 2 tbsp? That’s WAY, WAY off. That is your problem right there…
Carmen Jochmann says
I’d love to share this recipe in a round up post I am doing Sugar Free Treats for Valentine’s Day.
Please email me and let me know. Thank you for your time,
Have a wonderful day!
Carolyn says
Sure, as long as you aren’t posting the full recipe, I’d love to be included!
Christine says
Would your sugar free chocolate recipe in your cookbook work for the chocolate coating?
Carolyn says
Yes, although it tends to be a bit grainier.
Christine says
I went ahead and tried it. I had to add extra cocoa butter to get it thin enough for good dipping, but the results were great. If it was grainy at all, no one noticed. My Valentine’s Day tea guests loved these cookies.